Strategies for Reducing Succinic Acid Concentrations in Beer

Recent publications highlight the effect of succinic acid from alcoholic fermentation products on stomach acidity, which affects drinkability. To date, scientific information on succinic acid production during the brewing process is scarce. In order to make advances on this problem, a screening of technological fermentation parameters was carried out and the data compared with analyses of samples from several beers on the market. Based on the information in the literature, we tested process parameters such as temperature, substrate composition (available nitrogen), original gravity, CO2 concentration, pH value, pitching rate, wort aeration, and yeast propagation for factors that influence succinic acid production during the brewing process. It was found that the selection of yeast strain and pitching rate have a strong effect. Additionally, the nitrogen source of the substrate and oxygen availability during fermentation show an impact. In a last step, we compared the resulting succinic acid concentrations to those of samples taken from a variety of commercially available beers. The research results indicate that it is possible to produce a beer with a reduced level of succinic acid.